Pat Caputo - Michigan, MSU QB connection strong in Super Bowl

Nick Foles, albeit in a misguided way, is considered one of the quarterbacks in MSU’s pipeline to the NFL.

Certainly, we’ve heard plenty about it after Foles, a backup, stepped in for injured starter Carson Wentz to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

Foles only threw eight passes at MSU before transferring to Arizona. Does he count?

Quarterback is the one area, above all else, MSU has had in its favor the last decade over Michigan.

Brian Hoyer, Kirk Cousins, Connor Cook and Brian Lewerke - the Spartans’ QBs were so good, Foles, who transferred to Arizona, couldn’t even play at MSU.

Then again, Tom Brady is the arguably greatest QB of all time. He went to Michigan. Brady is so stellar, Hoyer is largely just a forgotten backup to him. Brady will start in the Super Bowl for New England against Foles. Edge Patriots - and Michigan - by a wide margin there.

It’s a great paradox. It’s not like Michigan has had problems landing highly-recruited QBs out of high school. Brady was forced share the position with Brighton’s Drew Henson, perhaps the best prep QB in the history of this state.

Devin Gardner, Tate Forcier, John Navarre, Ryan Mallett, Shane Morris, Denard Robinson and Chad Henne came from the high school ranks, and there were transfers such as Steven Threet, Jake Rudock and John O’Korn.

Michigan has been in a perpetual search to find the next Tom Brady, or at least a reasonable facsimile, for nearly two decades.

The twist in the puzzle is nobody recruited Brady out of his California high school. His father sent a wiggly video tape of him to Michigan, and Wolverines’ coach Lloyd Carr recognized Brady’s talent.

It’s a classic example of how difficult it is to find the right QB, even at the college level. The answers aren’t always obvious.

Cousins is no Tom Brady, but he made more money in 2017 and will likely break the bank this off season as a free agent.

Cousins’ was a 3-star recruit from the West side of the state whose only Power 5 conference choices were MSU and Colorado. Spartans’ coach Mark Dantonio only became convinced Cousins was athletic enough to play QB in the Big Ten after seeing him play basketball.

Not that pure athleticism is a particular strength for either Brady or Cousins.

In the bigger picture, this does seem to be the season in which defense rules. Minnesota, like Philadelphia, excelled with a backup QB (Case Keenum), and to even a bigger degree because it was for nearly the entire season, because of defense.

Jacksonville won three games in 2016, lost its top wide receiver to injury (former Orchard Lake St. Mary’s prep star Allen Robinson) - and still advanced to the AFC championship game largely because of its defense.

But what happened in the end to the Jaguars vs. New England? Tom Brady pulled it out.

The cliche makers would say that’s why they play the game.

I say that’s why you better have a top-notch QB.

Maybe Michigan has its guy in Mississippi transfer Shea Patterson. Seems like MSU does with Lewerke.

But seems obvious each program will ultimately only go as far as its QB takes ‘em.